“I just moved into my new place and I have this big trunk full of The Source magazines. It’s something that will always be meaningful to me. It’s part of my culture,” an enthusiastic BJ The Chicago Kid says over the phone from Los Angeles.
Culture is an important and recurring theme for the vocalist, whose album In My Mind debuts this month. The artist born Bryan James Sledge carries soul music in his heart and on his back for the Hip Hop generation.
“Let me tell you a secret,” he says almost conspiratorially. “A lot of people run from the phrase ‘soul music.’ Even new artists that are soulful, they run from it. They feel it’s an older thing, something with dust on it. They don’t want the weight of reviving it on their shoulders. They don’t want to deal with it. It’s real.”
Soul music comes with an embedded importance to the gifted musician and performer, and BJ takes the power of this duty seriously.
“There’s a deeper responsibility to making soul music. I’m not supposed to teach you how to party; I’m not supposed to teach you how to turn up. You’re only in the club for a certain amount of hours a day and a certain amount of days a week. I’m the balance to that. I can teach you how to get through the rest of that day. Somebody’s gonna come home late, somebody’s gonna answer that phone call, somebody’s gonna cheat, somebody’s gonna catch someone cheating. Something is always gonna happen! I provide that balance.”
In My Mind is an exquisite set mellifluously validating BJ’s profound respect for the artists that paved the way for him.
“I hate to use this person as an example, but to me it’s like George Bush not being proud of being a Bush. [Soul music] is like my last name. Marvin Gaye came from the church, but he had experiences with the women and the streets and that’s where the stories came from. I understand where I come from, so why wouldn’t I embrace it? Why wouldn’t I try to find out more about my history? It’s like [finding out more] about my real life family; I do the same thing musically. You find out who you are and now you want to know why you do some things naturally that other guys go to school to learn to do.”
Honoring not only the legacy of his sound but his roots, BJ penned the special “Home” as a tribute to the city he’s named after, because “everybody thinks Chicago is such a f*cked up place.”
“The whole city isn’t mayhem. People need to understand that,” he says with conviction. “I grew up there so if you tell a lion his jungle is f*cked up, he won’t understand that. He’ll be like, that’s home to me. That’s the statement in that song. What y’all call crazy is the same city that made the person you love and are listening to.”
Does he believe President Obama has said and done enough for Chicago? “He did what he could. The President is the President, but he isn’t the main one in control. If he has to go ask somebody, that means the power isn’t in his hands. He represents the people, but he represents something else too. It’s like a 50/50 thing.”
The plight of the modern day soul star isn’t lost on BJ, who’s anticipating In My Mind languidly gaining the adulation it absolutely deserves.
“I’m prepared for a slow brew. What I mean by that is, remember how it was when Jill Scott first came out, or when D’Angelo first came out? You got it, you rocked with it; you took your time with it. That’s how I feel like it will be and I’m prepared for that. I know once people hear it, it’s gonna get them.”
